Citizen Cope:
Thinking outside the box

March 1, 2010

BY JIM DeROGATIS POP
MUSIC CRITIC

The music of Brooklyn's Clarence
Greenwood, better known as
Citizen Cope, has never fit
neatly into any one box. There
are elements of the
singer-songwriter, the R&B soul
man, the hip-hop street poet and
the psychedelic rocker.

Think
of a much less smarmy John Mayer
crossed with Stevie Wonder and a
hint of Randy Newman. As for
Cope, as his friends call him,
the only label that doesn't make
him balk is the amorphous "urban
folk."

"A lot of journalism and
radio seems so segregated or
divided and niche-oriented,
whereas I know very few people
who just listen to one type of
music," the artist says. "Fans
seems to just listen to the
songs, whereas the record
companies were always like,
'It's not fast enough or this or
that enough,' or they don't want
to play it on the radio or write
about it in the newspaper. It
affected me from the ego
standpoint, but it never
affected my determination to
continue doing music."

Unfortunately, this open-minded,
genre-defying attitude has never
been one that the major labels
comfortably accommodate, and
Cope's discography offers ample
evidence of that. Signed to
Capitol Records in the late
'90s, the album he recorded for
that label was never released;
he moved instead to Dreamworks
for his self-titled 2002 debut.
When that label folded, he
signed to Arista for "The
Clarence Greenwood Recordings"
(2004) and "Every Waking Moment"
(2006), though by the time the
latter arrived in stores, he was
more than frustrated with the
label's pointless demands and
seeming ineptitude.

"It's
unfortunate, because there are a
lot of good people at the
labels, but every label I was at
either got closed or people got
fired. When that happens, who do
you call when you have something
important and they own your
stuff forever?" Cope says, the
frustrations still evident.
Still, he never considered
quitting.

"I love music, so it's always
worth it, and the struggle is
just part of it. You're not like
entitled to make records and
play music; you have to fight
for that. And I've always just
felt so close to the songs that
I wanted them to be handled
right and I fought for them."

Through all of these battles,
there were plenty of small
victories, including guest spots
on albums by Carlos Santana and
Dido, and the inclusion of
"Son's Gonna Rise" in one car
commercial and "Let the Drummer
Kick" in another. Most
importantly, Cope never stopped
touring--his quintet with two
keyboards, bass and drums also
is called Citizen Cope--and he
began to notice an odd
phenomenon.

"It seems like people began
listening to my music slowly,
the more I kept touring,. The
first record came out in 2002,
and the second in 2004. By 2006
and 2007, people were finally
hearing the first two records;
by the time the third one was
out, they were just kind of
getting turned on to the first
two. It was like a delayed
reaction. So I just toured
constantly, until there was a
moment when the third record
kind of caught up to the other
two. But before I knew it, it
was 2009, and I realized I was
way overdue to start making
another album."

The touring has paid off with
a loyal and ever-expanding
audience--this weekend will mark
the third time Cope has sold out
the 1,300-capacity Vic
Theatre--and now he finally is
releasing his fourth studio
album, "The Rainwater LP," on
his own label, RainWater
Recordings, Inc.

"It feels good to have that
ownership," Cope says. "The
major labels can get your music
to more people in certain
instances, but there are
different things you have to
give and take for that. I'm
excited; I think I can do just
as well as them."

With a mix of tunes written
over the last few years and some
that came together in the
studio--including "Lifeline,"
the gorgeous emotional
centerpiece of the disc--the
inclusion of "LP" in the title
was intentional and meant to
evoke the classic vinyl albums
that the musician Cope fell in
love with as a kid growing up in
Washington, D.C.

"I made it a length to fit on
a [vinyl] album, with eight
songs and two bonus tracks that
are instrumentals. Sometimes I
think 12 songs are just too much
for a record. I plan on doing
another one this year or next,
and I think it's a good
medium--the actual LP length--as
far as the listening experience
goes."

While it may be succinct and
devoid of filler, the album
nevertheless showcases the broad
range of Cope's music--from the
experimental electronics of
"Jericho" to the straightforward
balladry of "Lifeline"--as well
as his determination to take
whatever life gives. As he sings
in "I Couldn't Explain Why,"
"The world keeps turning/The sun
keeps burning/For all to learn
what/Heavens only knows."